Team spokesman Kevin Gregg informed the media of the news roughly 10 minutes after the underachieving defending World Series champions took a 10-5 loss to the Yankees. A formal announcement on Dombrowski’s departure will come Monday. Eddie Romero, Brian O’Halloran and Zack Scott will share leadership of baseball operations for the rest of the season. The trio had been assistant general managers under Dombrowski.

Sunday’s loss left the Red Sox 17.5 games behind the first-place Yankees in the American League East. Boston is eight games out in the American League wild-card race with 19 games remaining in the regular season.

In his five seasons with the Red Sox, Dombrowski built a team which won three consecutive division titles and the 2018 World Series. He was hailed for bold moves such as trading top prospects to the San Diego Padres for closer Craig Kimbrel and to the Chicago White Sox for ace Chris Sale. Dombrowski also gave David Price a monster seven year, $217 million contract. Those moves fueled Boston’s championship run last season.

But since then, Boston has fallen apart. Dombrowski let Kimbrel and reliever Joe Kelly leave in free agency following the 2018 season without finding suitable replacements. As a result, the Red Sox bullpen has 27 blown saves this season, second-most in the American League (the Oakland A’s have 28 blown saves).